Although Japan has made progress towards stabilizing the damaged reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crippled by a devastating earthquake two years ago, there are still issues to be resolved before it can begin its deactivation, the United Nations atomic agency said in a report released today.

The report was released after an expert team from the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) completed an initial review of Japan’s efforts to implement a Mid-and-Long-Term Roadmap to decommission the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. The visit was the first of what is planned to be a two-mission review, at the request of the Japanese Government.

“Our final report reflects that the Roadmap was developed early after the accident and that Japanese workers have achieved reasonable stable cooling of the damaged reactor cores and spent fuel pools,” said the Director of the IAEA’s Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology, Juan Carlos Lentijo.